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Cave Biology Data Portal
Subterranean biodiversity of North America and around the globe
AnimaliaArthropodaHexapodaCollembolaEntomobryomorphaIsotomidaeFolsomia

Springtail
Folsomia candida Willem, V, 1902

Taxonomy

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Hexapoda
Class Collembola
Order Entomobryomorpha
Family Isotomidae
Genus Folsomia
Species Folsomia candida Willem, V, 1902

Description

Diagnostic characters

Ecological class
Troglophile
Realm
Terrestrial

Distribution

Range

Known from 22 counties across 10 states.

Continent

North America

Country

United States

States and provinces

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee

Counties

Alabama
Colbert
Arkansas
Izard
Georgia
Walker
Iowa
Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Winneshiek
Illinois
Jackson, Monroe, St. Clair, Union
Kentucky
Edmonson
Minnesota
Fillmore, Wabasha
Missouri
Perry, St. Genevieve
New Mexico
Eddy
Tennessee
Clay, Jackson, Perry, Rutherford

Conservation and management

NatureServe

GNR Unranked

G1G2G3G4G5

National ranks

United States
NNR
Canada
NU

Subnational ranks

Illinois
SNR Unranked
Indiana
S4 Apparently Secure
Alabama
S1 Critically Imperiled
Oklahoma
SNR Unranked
British Columbia
SU Unrankable
Ontario
SU Unrankable

State and federal status

Not listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act

References

  • Bailey, V. 1933. Cave Life of Kentucky. US Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey, Washington, DC, USA. 256 pp.
  • Banta, A.M. 1907. The fauna of Mayfield's Cave. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 67: 1–114. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/60987.
  • Barr, T.C. & Reddell, J.R. 1967. The arthropod cave fauna of the Carlsbad Caverns region, New Mexico. The Southwestern Naturalist 12: 253–273.
  • Barr, T.C., Jr. & Kuehne, R.A. 1971. Ecological studies in the Mammoth Cave system of Kentucky. II. The Ecosystem. Annales de Speleologie 26: 47–96. doi:10.5038/1827-806X.3.1.10
  • Giovannoli, L. 1933. Invertebrate life of Mammoth and other neighboring caves. In: Bailey, V. (ed), Cave Life of Kentucky, pp. 600–623.
  • Lewis, J.J. & Lewis, S.L. 2007. A biological reconnaissance of selected caves in the Highland Rim area of central Tennessee. Tennessee Chapter Cave Program, The Nature Conservancy, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. 42 pp.
  • Lewis, J.J., Whitaker, J.O. & Krantz, G.W. 2010. A biological reconnaissance of the invertebrate fauna of twelve Tennessee caves with notes on the guanophilic mites of the genus Macrocheles. Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science 85: 53–61.
  • McDaniel, V.R. & Smith, K.L. 1976. Cave fauna of Arkansas: selected invertebrate taxa. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science 30: 57–60. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol30/iss1/22.
  • Nicholas, G. 1960. Checklist of macroscopic troglobitic organisms of the United States. The American Midland Naturalist 64: 123–160. doi:10.2307/2422897
  • Peck, S.B. & Lewis, J.J. 1978. Zoogeography and evolution of the subterranean invertebrate faunas of Illinois and southeastern Missouri. National Speleological Society Bulletin 40: 39–63.
  • Peck, S.B. & Christiansen, K. 1990. Evolution and zoogeography of the invertebrate cave faunas of the Driftless Area of the upper Mississippi River Valley of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois, U.S.A. Canadian Journal of Zoology 68: 73–88. doi:10.1139/z90-012
  • Peck, S.B. 1995. The cave fauna of Alabama. Part II: The insects. National Speleological Society Bulletin 57: 1–19.
  • Soto-Adames, F.N. & Taylor, S.J. 2013. New species and new records of springtails (Hexapoda: Collembola) from caves in the Salem Plateau of Illinois, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 75: 146–175. doi:10.4311/2011LSC0257
  • Webb, D.W., Taylor, S.J. & Krejca, J.K. 1993. The biological resources of Illinois caves and other subterranean environments. Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois, USA. 143 pp.
  • Zigler, K.S., Niemiller, M.L., Stephen, C.D.R., Ayala, B.N., Milne, M.A., Gladstone, N.S., Engel, A.S., Jensen, J.B., Camp, C.D., Ozier, J.C. & Cressler, A. 2020. Biodiversity from caves and other subterranean habitats of Georgia, USA. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies 82: 125–167. doi:10.4311/2019LSC0125

How to cite this account

Folsomia candida Willem, V, 1902. Cave Biology Data Portal, account SP-2469. https://cavebiology.org/species/folsomia-candida/ (accessed 7 September 2026).

Data sources and funding are listed in the Acknowledgments.

Spotted something wrong on this page? Report a correction. Accounts are compiled from many sources and corrections from people who know the group are the most useful email we get.

Cave Biology Data Portal

Species accounts, distributions, and conservation status for the subterranean fauna of North America and around the globe, with resources for the cave and karst research community.

Text and data CC BY 4.0. Images all rights reserved unless stated.

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